Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

I know it's been a long time when I actually have to log in to Google!

I've been busy planning the new school year and trying to get a head start so that I am not overwhelmed by new baby and new lessons all at once.

And we've been making some changes.

Change is never easy. People like routine and the predictable. No matter how much we complain about being bored, we don't really want things to change. At least not on a large scale.

But sometimes, we spend so many years putting our square selves into square lives that we don't realize how much we've grown. We don't see the elongated edges or the stretched out ends. We're so used to being square that we don't even recognize the rectangle in the mirror.

Dave and I have been doing some soul-searching lately and we've come to realize that the box that's been our life just doesn't fit our family any longer. Actually, we realized it long ago, but have continued to try to change ourselves to fit our circumstances instead of the reverse.

First, we got rid of our dog. Call me cruel; call me heartless. And call me a new woman! No more dog hair. No more whining in the middle of the night. No more nipping the kids. He was old and getting more and more aggressive with the kids. We decided to let another family adopt him while he was still adoptable. And you know what? I feel zero guilt.

We also decided to find a new church. Several reasons, but mainly because we were driving over 30 minutes to church each week and spending super long hours behind-the-scenes.

This was one of those decisions that, in retrospect, we should have made long ago. We've talked about it for over a year. But we just kept trying to fit our rectangular-shaped family into a square-shaped church. We dragged our feet and made excuses as to why we needed to stay, and we convinced ourselves that we could never be happy anywhere else.

Our church was awesome. It still is. It was a place of healing and restoration for us both as a couple and as individuals. But it was time to move on. And guess what? We feel zero guilt. Instead, we feel rejuvenated, excited and completely stoked about church again.

Life will always bring change. But one thing I've learned from the last few weeks is not to fight it so hard! Both of these decisions were really difficult for us. It may seem trivial, but the dog was a part of our life for nine years and the church for six. Yet choosing to let both of them go has brought nothing but joy and relief.

Unfortunately, I think I may have spouted my ebullience a bit too much. Dave keeps asking me if I'm planning on dumping him too.